Sony Xperia Ear could make Bluetooth earpieces cool again

Sony has announced a return for a gadget we thought had mostly phased out a while back; a Bluetooth earpiece. However, it comes with a twist.

The Sony Xperia Ear is a next-generation wireless earpiece that does far more than enable you to make and take calls from a phone in a bag or pocket, it is also a personal assistant.

It can verbally give you your schedule, weather or the latest news. The Ear has voice recognition so responds to verbal commands, and you can simply tell it to make a call, perform an internet search, dictate a message or navigate to a location.

All while remaining hands-free.

The Xperia Ear connects to an Android smartphone and dedicated application via NFC and Bluetooth. The settings can be customised, so it can even automatically give you the information you most require when you first put it on in the morning.

It is IPX2 water resistant and Sony claims that it sports an all-day battery life. The case doubles as a charger and it will be available in graphite black from this summer.

Pricing is yet to be revealed but head to the gallery to see what it looks like.

Pocket-lint is out at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week where the Xperia Ear and many other products are being shown. We'll be reporting back live all-day, every day.